The literature is replete with products capable of cleaning hard surfaces such as ceramic tile floors, hardwood floors, counter tops and the like. In the context of cleaning floors, numerous mopping devices and other cleaning implements are described which comprise a handle attached to a mop head, a fluid delivery mechanism which can be either attached to or incorporated within the handle and a reservoir which can be used to store a cleaning composition and which is in fluid communication with the fluid delivery mechanism. These cleaning implements usually have a handle comprising at least one pole segment attached at one end to a mop head and at the other end to a hand-grip. The hand-grip can include a trigger, a switch or any other type of actuating mechanism suitable for remotely actuating the fluid delivery mechanism. Some cleaning implements comprise a reservoir which is permanently attached to the implement and which can be filled by a user. Examples of such cleaning implements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,228,573 to A. L. Lowe, filed Mar. 4, 1938, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,744 to Fodrocy et al, filed Oct. 12, 1999, which disclose cleaning implements with a refillable reservoir. Other types of cleaning implements comprise a reservoir which is removably attachable to the fluid delivery mechanism of the cleaning implement. One example of such cleaning implements can be found in International Application serial No PCT/US00/09498 to Hall et al, filed Mar. 23, 2001, and assigned to the Clorox Company, which describe cleaning implements having a liquid reservoir which is removably attachable to a fluid delivery mechanism which can be integrated into a cap and which is removably attachable to the finish of the reservoir. The first end of a tube is attached to this cap and the second end is attached to a nozzle which can be removably attached to the mop head of a cleaning implement. In order to replace an emptied reservoir, a user must remove the nozzle from the mop head, then thread it through the universal joint connecting the mop head to the handle and remove the cap from the emptied bottle. A user can then reattach the cap to a new filled reservoir and then reattach the nozzle to the mop head. Alternatively, when replacing an emptied reservoir, the user can also leave the nozzle attached to the mop head but in this case, the length of the tube can limit the ability of the user to maneuver or manipulate the reservoir while maintaining the cleaning implement stable. In addition, the disclosed fitment including the fluid delivery mechanism is specific in the sense that it is only usable as a gravity fed delivery mechanism and does not allow the user to use the reservoir with another kind of fluid delivery mechanism.
Another example of such a cleaning implement is disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/831,480, to Policicchio et al., filed Nov. 9, 1999, and assigned to the Procter & Gamble Company. The reservoir of the described cleaning implements can be removably attached to a fluid delivery mechanism with a mechanism such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,058 to Nagel et al, filed Nov. 9, 1998, and assigned to The Procter & Gamble Company, which discloses a fitment removably attachable to a reservoir and including a venting valve and a fluid transfer check valve.
Another type of mechanism is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,392, to Lawson et al., filed May 22, 2000, and assigned to The Procter and Gamble Company, which discloses a reservoir comprising a cap having an opening covered with a needle-pierceable membrane. When this bottle is inserted in the housing of a cleaning implement, this membrane can be pierced by a first needle for delivering a liquid and by a second needle for venting this reservoir. As the cap having the needle-pierceable membrane is attached to the reservoir, the user can conveniently handle the reservoir and insert it or remove it from the housing. Nonetheless, this type of reservoir can only be used with a fluid delivery mechanism comprising at least one needle.
While the prior art addresses the problem associated with cleaning implements having a liquid delivery mechanism to deliver a liquid from a reservoir, the fitments which are disclosed are specialized in the sense that they do not provide a fluid transfer fitment usable with a variety of fluid delivery mechanisms which can be conveniently attachable by a user to a reservoir.
As such, there remains a need for such a fitment attachable to a reservoir that offers both convenience, a low manufacturing cost and the ability to be used with a variety of fluid delivery mechanism.